good thursday, everyone. i'm contessa brewer covering breaking news out of baltimore, maryland. a gunman has entered johns hopkins hospital, reportedly shot a doctor, put him in critical condition. we're just getting a report from the associated press that a spokesman for the hospital says the gunman, the shooter, has now been subdued.

i want to get right to a crime reporter for the "baltimore sun" on the scene. dustin, what are you learning? >> yeah, we learned that probably about half an hour ago a doctor was shot on the eighth floor of the hospital in a building called the nelson building. listening on the police scanner, what we could pick up is that he may have been in there with a relative. we don't know why he had a gun or why he shot the doctor. but that's the information we have at the moment. >> we also had been hearing that the immediate text that went through was that there was a shooter incident, people should stay in their offices or rooms, lock their doors, until there is an all-clear announced, to stay away from windows, to wait for instructions. did they give an instruction to evacuate? did they begin the evacuation process in the hospital? >> from what i understand part of the building was evacuated and part of it was on lockdown. there's a wide area around the hospital where they've pushed people back. people are pushed many streets away to get away from the scene

and there are s.w.a.t. teams here and helicopters are circling. >> and have you been able to learn anything more that we got from the baltimore spokesperson for johns hopkins saying that the shooter has now been subdued. can you confirm that? >> that's more information than i have. no, i can't provide any more than that. >> all right, thank you very much. we appreciate it. i know you're busy working on getting more details. i should mention that johns hopkins is a sprawling hospital campus. there are multiple buildings here and you just heard justin describe the nelson building. one of the hospitals here on this busy campus. it looks like this text went out to everybody who was in the building telling them at first to basically lock down. and then, as police went in and started escorting people out, evacuating people away from the scene, and according to the associated press, a hospital spokesman said that the shooter had been subdued. let me bring in our msnbc analyst now, former fbi profiler and hostage negotiator clint van zandt. clint, give me your sense of,

from the very sketchy details we have at this point, how the situation is unfolding. violence in the workplace. we have way too much of that in this country. committed by firearms. but a big facility like this, like any other major site of this size, they practice, unfortunately, these situations. they practice the ability, number one, to aid someone who's been injured. and number two, to basically shut the facility down. what law enforcement and security, and i've worked with hospital security on just these situations, what you want to do in the case of a gunman you want to get him to one location, get him located there. make sure he can't move, get any potential targets out of the way and wait for law enforcement to come and deal with him. >> and clint, we're just getting this now from wbal. also reporting that the shooter is in custody. but, again, there are not just this nelson buildings of johns hopkins hospital, but there are

apparently streets and other buildings nearby that have been evacuated and cleared. do they have to go through now and search the whole building just to make sure that there is no corresponding person who's a threat? >> well, unfortunately, the situations break real quick, as you know, contessa from your reporting. law enforcement's got to get in and assure themselves that there was only one gunman. that there's no one else who could carry on this rampage, whatever he was doing. so they will be interviewing the relatives that he was allegedly there to see. they'll talk to the doctor who was shot and the nurses, anybody else around. because what they don't want to have to do, unless they need to, is a room by room, floor by floor search. if there's one shooter, they've got him in custody, what they want to do is get him out of there, take care of the wounded, and get the hospital back to doing what it does. which is take care of injured people. unfortunately, in this case, someone who was shot within the very hospital. >> a doctor, we're being told by

people there on the scene has been shot and is in critical condition. that's the only injury that we've heard of at this point. as justin was reporting, the baltimore sun is reporting and this is based on some of the communication coming from the police radios that there may have been a relative involved. we're waiting to get that confirmed. at this point it does appear that the shooter has been caught in this situation, that the immediate threat, this is the way it appears to us based on the facts we have, that the immediate threat to the people who work inside johns hopkins nelson building, that threat is now not a problem. so clint, we're keeping our eye on the situation. we'll keep our viewers up to date if we get more information that makes it seem like it's an ongoing problem there. thank you for your help, as well. >> okay, contessa. the fight in congress over your money is now reaching fevered pitch. democrats and republicans have put up their dukes over middle-class tax cuts. and both sides are using that as ammunition for election day. the president called on congress once again to extend a tax cut for the middle class.

but republicans want to extend the bush tax cuts for everyone. including the super wealthy. >> that this is not the time to increase taxes on anyone. >> vice president biden says the white house won't back down on this fight, either. biden says the tax money won't matter to people making millions of dollars. but for the middle-class, it could mean the difference between paying bills or not. >> it matters to them. it matters. i want this fight. i want this fight. >> a new cbs/"new york times" poll shows 53% of americans agree with the democrats here. they think tax cuts for the wealthy should expire. let's go right to nbc's mike viqueira at the white house. the president took on this issue this morning. it's the second time in two days. the democrats here sense this is the issue, this is the economic money issue they can run with toward the election. >> i think that they think this is the best issue of a number of

issues that are not very good for them. you show that 53% there. the problem for democrats is they have far less enthusiasm. i'm not the first one to say it. you're not the first one to say it. but all of the energy is on the conservative side. we've seen that time and time again over the course of this primary season. first point, second point, we are looking at a wave dynamic here. in washington, people are always talking, is this a wave election? will this be something that sweeps people out of power? a tsunami. a political tsunami. it's looking that way. our only nbc news/"wall street journal" poll out just last week showed that republicans leading in the so-called generic, the one you just showed was tied, republicans leading by nine points. that's wave territory. 39-seat swing in the house of representatives might be -- it would be enough for republicans to take control, contessa. and you know, you talk about whether or not republicans had the energy or not to do this. democrats lacking the energy. that is something that the white house and democrats are trying

to change. you've heard the democrats, including president obama, go after leader boehner, john boehner, who incidentally has now walked back significantly his opening on sunday, saying he would possibly, if he were left with no other option, go along with the president's plan for tax cuts. he evidently taken to the woodshed, completely done a 180 on that one. >> john boehner is the head of the republicans in the house. who is there to take him to the woodshed? >> well, there's senate republicans who think he was off message. people within his own republican conference. those are the people that would and are likely to elect him speaker. should republicans realize this goal, this dream, if you will, of four years in the wilderness in the minority in the house of representatives. and believe when you're the minority in the house of representatives, you don't have much going on in your favor. >> well, still got to be embarrassing there, you're the minority leader and you get taken to the woodshed. mike viqueira, pointing that out today. >> okay, yeah. good news on the job front. today the labor department reports first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell to a

two-month low. claims to dropped to 450,000 last week. better than expected but not a significant recovery. and it's official, backing up the expectations here the census bureau says the u.s. poverty rate climbed to 14.3%. more than 43 million people in this country, one in every seven americans, lives in poverty last year. mortgage rates are climbing and yet they still remain near the lowest level in decades. and new data shows home foreclosures jumped 25% last month over last year's numbers. there's the dow jones industrials right now. we're down a bit on the dow jones. the s&p is off by five, and the nasdaq has lost almost ten points on the day. delaware's tea party darling christine o'donnell is working toward her general election campaign trying to beat her democratic opponent come november. the republican party is backtracking. now agreeing to put money behind tea party candidate christine o'donne o'donnell. but her own past is coming back to haunt her. her interviews, her outrageous statements, serve as something of a skeleton in the closet now

coming to light. for instance, she thinks it's perfectly acceptable to ban women from military service schools. thinks the constitution allows that kind of gender separation. by integrating women into particularly military institutes, it cripples the readiness of our defense. those are her words. msnbc chief washington correspondent norah o'donnell is live in washington. that's one of the things that makes you go hmm, but it's not the only one. >> well, look, karl rove has called her nutty. and she's responded by accusing him of political cannibalism. now we realize christine o'donnell is going to have to eat a lot of her own words. including this interview from some 15 years ago, in 1995, when she was with the concerned women of america here in d.c., and she was asked specifically if she believes that women should serve in taxpayer funded military service schools. and she said that it was constitutional to exclude women from such schools, and she said that having women in those

schools cripples the readiness of our defense. her opponents also point out that christine o'donnell has insisted that west point has had to lower their standards. those are christine o'donnell's words, in order for men and women to compete. contessa, as you know, in 1996, the supreme court weighed in on this with vmi saying the categorical exclusion of women did not equal protection to women under the law. those are sarah palin's views. that's just one of the things that's come out today. we've also received this new tape of her when she appeared on "politically incorrect with bill maher" and the subject of lying came up. and she said she would never lie, never lie, even if during world war ii nazis came to her door and asked her if she was hiding jews. listen. >> if i were in that situation, god would provide a way to do the right thing -- >> oh, shut up. >> i believe that. and i believe -- >> god is not there. hitler's there and you're there. >> you never have to practice

deception. >> now, democrats say there's a treasure trove of these types of comments that christine o'donnell made. they're going to make them public. there's also a lot of republicans who are cringing here in washington as more of these comments come out from christine o'donnell. >> all right, norah, thank you very much. crowds of scottish people have crowded roads in the united kingdom hoping to catch a glimpse of pope benedict during his visit to scotland. we're now watching for the pontiff to preside over a mass in glasgow and we're also watching for scottish singing sensation susan boyle, the reality show superstar, will sing for pope benedict, and these are live pictures right now. and you can see the massive crowd outdoors now for this papal visit. nbc's stephanie gosk is covering benedict's visit to scotland. >> reporter: contessa, there are approximately 6 million catholics here in the uk. and it's not very often that a pope comes to visit. in fact, this is the first official state visit from a pope

in 500 years. so there is certainly a level of excitement here in scotland, and throughout the country, for the pope's arrival. he arrived here this morning on an alitalia jet with the call sign shepherd one. he was greeted by prince philip and escorted to a private meeting with the queen, where they exchanged gifts. he then paraded through the town of edinburgh, where he was cheered, using his pope mobile. so there's also controversy. a lot of people here want to hear what he has to say on the priest abuse scandal. the question was whether or not he was going to address it public a on his four-day trip. he did speak to reporters on his flight over. and he told them that the church did not act quickly enough or decisively enough. so the other issues that he's going to have to face while here is the growing liberalization of catholics in this country. a number of people here feel that the church is disconnected from the modern world on a number of issues, including the celibacy with priests. many people here feel those

rules need to be liberalized to some degree. they also feel that women should play a more prominent role within the church. now, the pope has a number of other meetings with the leaders of state leaders. he'll be meeting with prime minister gordon brown. he's going to be going down to london and giving a couple of more open-air masses. but perhaps the highlight of the trip will be tonight in glasgow, scottish singing sensation susan boyle will be serenading him live. contessa? >> all right, stephanie gosk reporting. again we're watching for that sensation, susan boyle to sing. when we see it we'll bring that to you live. again we're following breaking news right now. we're watching for a situation in baltimore where they've evacuated johns hopkins hospital because of a shooter who now reportedly is in police custody but not firing off at least one shot hitting a doctor. and again they had evacuated parts of the nelson building at

johns hopkins. we are told that the situation now is under control but no word if they're letting people back in. may be the police are still clearing the hospital there. keeping an eye on the situation when we find out more we'll pass it along. now? some in congress are getting squeezed by the special interests again. trying to delay action and give polluters free reign to keep dumping toxic pollution into the air. the air our children breathe. letting big oil lobbyists get their way again, and again, and again. it's a last-minute bill, written by special interests, looking for a payback. washington politicians need to get off the dime, and not let corporate polluters off the hook. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®. [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am,

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all right, an update now on the breaking news we're following out of baltimore. johns hopkins says it's restricting access to the main hospital bill this morning because of that shooting that happened. a doctor in critical condition. the gunman now reportedly in police custody following the latest details as we get them in. another emotional day in court in a connecticut courtroom and surveillance video shows jennifer hawke-petit at a local bank taking out $15,000. prosecutors say her family was being held hostage. petit, along with her two daughters were later tortured and killed. yesterday, jurors heard 911

tapes in the deadly home invasion trial, and listen to what the bank manager told operators in a 911 call. >> we have a lady who is in our bank right now. who says that her husband and children are being held at their house. if the police were told they'd kill the children and the husband. >> what role does that 911 call play in the trial? >> it's laying out the time line. what's so chilling about that surveillance video of jennifer hawke-petit at the bank withdrawing $15,000, telling the bank teller my family is being held hostage, i'm petrified. they said if we involve the police they're going to kill my husband and kids. less than an hour after this video was taken, jennifer hawke-petit was dead. >> where were police? >> that's a good question. this is 9:17 a.m. 9:21 a.m., three minutes later, the bank manager says i got to go back to a back room and call the police. she tells 911, here's jennifer

hawke-petit's name, here's her address, here's what just happened. police and officers to the home but they just stand outside for the next 30 minutes while the family is being tortured inside. now, look, we have the benefit of hindsight, 20/20. >> of course. >> they didn't. they said we had no idea there was violence going on inside. so 30 minutes go by. police are setting up the perimeter outside. william petit, the man on the left side of your screen. he is able to escape. gets to a neighbor's house. a neighbor calls 911 and police still don't go in, and then suddenly the home lights on fire and the suspects come running out. by then it was too late, the wife and children were dead. >> what role is this playing in defense? >> yesterday in court it was a very ugly team. there's a police captain on stand and the defense says in essence my client isn't fully to blame because you guys didn't do your job fast enough to protect the victims from my client. it's a very bizarre sort of strategy. defense basically blamed the police for that not doing their

job and acting fast enough. >> here's a guy who lost his wife and his daughters. his wife went to the bank. they knew there was a problem, they called police, they had an opportunity to save the family. >> police say they followed protocol. the question is do a lot of local communities immediate to revisit protocol. >> jeff, thanks. animal rights activists are begging the senate to move forward to outlow videos showing people crushing animals to death. the videos are horrific. they're graphic, it's sort of this modern-day type of spectacle that might have titillated bloodthirsty audiences in the coliseum. so the house of representatives has already passed the legislation to ban the sale of the videos. the senate had a hearing on the problem yesterday and later this hour we'll talk to a woman who testified in that hearing about the issue. so my big question today is, what kind of a world do we live in where it's necessary to pass a law to ban this kind of horror? you can share your thoughts with me. i'd like to hear from you on twitter, on facebook. my e-mail address is

contessa@msnbc.com. the bed bug invasion is taking over america. not just hotels, movie theaters and shops. wait until you hear the latest update. what is hot on the win today? most-viewed stories on msnbc.com. we're looking at an american cartoonist in hiding because an islamic cleric put on a hit list. he declared a everybody draw mohammed day. but later apologized. the fbi recommended she move. rats invade prince charles garden right in the middle of an environmental affair. they are showing how attractive organic foods are to rodents. and true yogi bear has become an internet sensation. a brown bear in finland is more flexible than your average bear. showing off her yoga stretching

routine that lasts about 15 minutes. yoga experts, also known as yogis, say she is something of an expert herself. words alone aren't enough. our job is to listen and find ways to help workers who lost their jobs to the spill. i'm iris cross. we'll keep restoring the jobs, tourist beaches, and businesses impacted by the spill. we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund. i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

all right folks. breaking news update. baltimore police now say they do not. they don't have the gunman in custody at johns hopkins. this is a shooter who reportedly went in to johns hopkins, may have had a relative there, and fired off at least one shot. a doctor, we're told, was hit and in critical condition. the next update we got was that the gunman had holed himself up in some kind of room, treatment room or office or something of that kind and police were actually evacuated the building. not just this nelson building. it happened apparently on the eighth floor, not just the

building but also nearby building. hospital officials are preventing access to the main hospital and the update we're getting directly from the baltimore police, according to the associated press, that the suspect is not in custody. so we know that there are police officers on the scene, that law enforcement is looking to get control of what could be potentially another dangerous situation, and already dangerous given that someone has been put in critical condition and is clinging to life. so the update now is that the situation is ongoing. let me bring in back our msnbc analyst who's a former fbi profiler and hostage negotiator clint van zandt. that really changes the scenario that police are facing in johns hopkins. >> yeah, it really does. of course, the question that law enforcement has to resolve is how many shooters could they have one in with us toddy and another still be on the loose? but the challenge is, as you and i talked about a few minutes ago, this is a massive facility. and to shut this down you're

asking literally thousands of people to barricade themselves in a room. they're all going to be calling the main switchboard of the police department. and now the police have this really horrible job of going through this massive facility that you're showing right now, floor by floor and room by room. >> here's what they're telling me on the associated press that the gunman is holed unon the eighth floor at this building at johns hopkins hospital. that they have now set up a tactical situation and operation to try and go in and gain control of the situation. it looks like parts of the hospital are being evacuated but not the entire complex, which would make sense because some of these buildings are not connected to that main hospital building. and have more than 30,000 employees they're saying. more than 1,000 beds. so they are trying to isolate the parts of the hospital that could be, i presume, in most immediate threat. >> well, in a situation like this, law enforcement's doing

three things. first of all they have to treat the injured. then it's control, isolate and negotiate. they have to control the situation, isolate the gunman, and then if there's no one being shot at, they have to institute negotiations. now, contessa, you and i and your listeners have been in huge complexes like this. law enforcement, too, they have to shut off the stairs. they have to shut off the elevators, and with that many people around, there's a potential that should there be a gunman still out there, he or she could have taken one or more hostages. so this is a very trying situation. law enforcement, people that i've trained in hostage negotiations, would try to either talk to them directly or by phone, trying to take the stress and anxiety away, and get this person or persons to the position where they will surrender, where they will release, if they have any, hostages. >> so again the situation that we're seeing right now, that there's a gunman holed up on the eighth floor of johns hopkins hospital. this is baltimore, maryland. the police are there.

they're setting up tactical operations. here's the statement from johns hopkins hospital. as a precaution, the johns hopkins hospital has temporarily restricted access to the main hospital building following a shooting incident within the hospital. the hospital says the shooter's been subdued the police are saying, no, he's not. he's not subdued and he's not in custody. the victim is in a faculty -- or the victim is a faculty physician who is currently being treated at hopkins. privacy and confidentiality policies prohibit us from giving further details at this time. baltimore police security officers have asked employees, visitors, patients and caregivers to stay in rooms or offices until further notice. again, that's the statement from the hospital. but baltimore police tell the associated press that they have not arrested the shooter. that the shooter is not in custody at this point, clint. >> yeah, and this is what makes it challenging. when these situations break you have multiple sources of

information. some people are right at the scene. some are not. in, in fact, baltimore police are already on that eighth floor, obviously we have to take what they say, they are going to be the department that is going to be responsible for resolving this. hospital security, in most cases, they don't carry firearms. they don't have tactical teams to deal with something like this. so what the police are trying to do is settle this situation down. make sure the gunman can't move, and then -- >> okay let me bring in thomas roberts, who is a native of baltimore, maryland. i know that you're very familiar with the area surrounding johns hopkins. set the scene for me now about what police are working with. >> contessa, we have to point out that this is a massive hospital complex. also there is johns hopkins university which is to the side of the campus there. i don't want to get too familiar for everybody because it's going to seem a little trivial. there's broadway that takes you and wolf street. wolf street is the side of the building where we believe the nelson building is.

trying to raise some people on the telephone that i know work in the hospital industry in maryland and also work in the security industry in maryland and work on campus there, trying to get information from them. things have been pretty spotty. i know we were on with breaking news just at the top of the hour saying that the shooter had been subdued. this is after he shot one doctor and barricaded somewhere. now it is pretty confusing to find out what's going on on the scene there. as long as they know where the shooter is, i think that the hospital staff there and the patients that they're trying to take care of, remember this is a world-renowned hospital. i think it's probably listed in the top ten within the country, if not higher, world-renowned for the work that they're doing on different types of cancer patients. specifically lymphoma. so they have some serious work that's going on there. also some seriously ill patients that could be affected by what's taking place there right now. and for all those people there, we're hopeful that the security on site and the police working in coordination, because we're

getting these conflicting reports, as you're saying that maybe the shooter is still on the loose. >> and we don't really even know what this means. does on the loose mean he's barricaded himself in an office? does on the loose mean that they know where he is and they're talking to him and they've engaged in a conversation? we have no way of knowing that. the last time the hospital spokesman talked, gary stevenson said that the shooting happened on the eighth floor of this main hospital building, we're calling it the nelson building. he says that the eighth floor is on lockdown, and that baltimore police have said we're evacuating parts of the hospital. we're not evacuating the entire complex nor all of the 30,000 people who work here but certainly parts of the hospital that would be most at risk if the situation spiraled out of control. those are going to be the parts of the hospital they're concerned about evacuating. let's bring in clint van zandt as we're working to get more information here. clint, if you have a gunman who

reports were, at least according to the baltimore sun, listening to the police talk over their communications, that there may have been a relative involved here, what would be the best approach to go about getting him to surrender into their custody? >> well, contessa, of course the first thing you want to do is isolate him so he can't harm any other medical personnel or patients. so notwithstanding police officers and security that will be on the eighth floor, where we're told he may be holed up, you're also going to shut off the ninth floor, and the seventh floor. in essence you want to make sure he can't go up and he can't go down. that's part of the isolation. once you're convinced that he can't go anywhere else, that's the time you initiate negotiations. you try to find out what's going on and in all honesty as negotiator you're telling this individual, you know, we're here, we're trying to help you. which law enforcement wants to do. they want to resolve this peacefully. they don't want to see the gunman get hurt or anyone else get hurt.

hospital rooms, should he be barricaded in a room or office, he may be watching tv. we go through these once or twice a week or every other week at least where the gunman may be monitoring the media. we're being very careful not -- but we can say, you know, he needs, once the negotiator or police officer talks to him, he needs to listen and resolve this. >> all right. we are focused on getting concrete details about the situation and the scenario facing the folks in that hospital as we speak. when we get it, we'll pass it along. some of nature's best ingredients. we created purina one with smartblend. new, delicious shredded morsels and crunchy bites, with real meat, wholesome grains and antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your dog. purina one improved with smartblend. discover what one can do.

- that's right, cso we've got a list of things you can do to get active. - like jumping jacks. - or how 'bout push-ups? - sit-ups? - uh, maybe jumping rope? - yeah. or jogging. - uh, how about like a wheelbarrow race? - oh, yeah, that's a great idea. - but imagine actually trying to use him as a wheelbarrow, like stacking bricks on him and doing, like, doo-doo-doo. you know what i mean? - or yoga. - which is actually peaceful and quiet and not a lot of talking, so... - exactly. is he still looking at me?

and wear hats. i was always the hat guy. i can't even tell you how much it's changed my life. [ male announcer ] only rogaine is proven to regrow hair in 85% of guys. no more hats. [ male announcer ] stop losing. start gaining. welcome back. here's the situation as it stands right now in baltimore, maryland. john hopkins hospital, there is a situation following a shooting on the eighth floor of the main hospital building. we're told a doctor has been shot. and the police are setting up a tactical operation. they say that the shooter is not in custody so they're working on trying to make that happen. here's a news conference right now by the baltimore police.

>> he is in the hospital. however he is contained, we believe, to a floor within the hospital. we're in the process of executing a tactical operation. baltimore city fire department, johns hopkins security, the fbi, baltimore state police are all on board. one thing i want to stress people coming to the hospital are encouraged to come. as you can see traffic is flowing behind me. we have this isolated to a small section of the hospital and we have officers in place and a tactical operation. >> does he have any hostages? >> we have no information on hostages. we don't know the relationship between he and the doctor who was shot. i do know that the doctor is going to be okay. he's in the best place in the world he could be. no identity on the doctor or the suspect at this point. we need to get this guy into custody and we have a lot of questions for the suspect. >> -- other parts of the hospital and emergency room? >> the emergency room is open. traffic is flowing behind me. people are in the area. this is contained to one floor within the hospital and we have a plethora of resources

available to us to get the situation under control. i have no information about a mother. >> can you tell us circumstances leading up to the gunfire? >> all we know is that a doctor was shot. we need to talk to the suspect and to witnesses. we're in the process of doing that. but i have nothing concrete yet. >> could you more specific about the exact area of the building? >> we don't want to get into that for tactical reasons. doctor was shot. he was rushed to surgery immediately. >> we've been told the hospital has been evacuated. >> portions of the hospital was evacuated. but the entire johns hospital kins hospital was not. this is isolated to one small section. we are encouraging people to come here if they have business. the situation is contained. >> what is the reason why the arrest hasn't been made? >> we're in the process of getting the suspect. it's possible he's barricaded in a room. but i'll get the latest briefing in a couple minutes from our tactical commander. >> talking to negotiators? >> all that's being done. i have no information on that, either. >> the nelson building --

>> we're not going to comment on where it is. okay. thanks, guys. >> just part of the complex? >> a small portion -- >> there you're hearing it. the news conference that the police came out and gave now situation, a doctor shot, a gunman holed up, the police describing the situation as under control. it may be because the gunman is in a situation where they don't feel like he's going to go on a rampage through the hospital. but again he's not in custody at this point. we're keeping an eye on the situation. when we learn more we're going to pass it along. ot how successful investing is done. at e-trade it's harnessing some of the most powerful yet easy to use trading tools on the planet to help diversify, identify opportunities, take action. it's using professional grade research and your brain to seek maximum returns to reach your goals. it's investing with intelligence and cold hard conviction. you made the money. you should have everything you need to invest it. e-trade. investing unleashed.

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marijuana. peer pressure and a lack of knowledge of the negative effects of smoking and drinking are considered factors in the risk. all right. so we're following breaking news out of baltimore, maryland, where there's been a shooting at johns hopkins hospital on the eighth floor. the gunman, the police say, is holed up there. they have not taken him into custody and a doctor has been shot. thomas roberts has been checking with some of the local folks he knows there. >> all right let's go with this. the minor building on the campus of john hopkins hospital. again this is a massive complex, a major teaching hospital in the state of maryland itself. just finding out now that wbal, which is the local nbc affiliate there, is reporting that there was a patient that's in that hospital that had a family member come in, and that the family member is unhappy with the level of care that the patient has received. now this is not confirmed yet but wbal is reporting this, saying that the person walked into that hospital, and is now considered to be paralyzed. and because of that --

>> the patient? >> the patient, yeah, is now paralyzed and because of that this family member has actedcon information. thomas, thank you. keeping our eye on that and i will bring you the updates as they become available. want to talk a little bit about politics. two new polls trying to take the temperature of voters just 47 days before midterm elections and the tea party could change the game here for democrats and republicans. doug hye is the communications director of the republican national committee and brad woodhouse is the communications

director of the democratic national committee. and always good to have both of you guys on with me at the same time. brad, how does the tea party win change things for democrats? >> well, look, this is a tremendous development. i think specially what we saw in delaware the other night. this caps off the primary season where, contessa, listen to this, the republicans lost 10 of their preferred candidates to out of the mainstream, right-wing candidates. those are ten races that in the house -- in the senate, and gubernatorial races where democrats have a better shot at winning today than they did four months ago. so the landscape has moved in our direction, and that's a direct result of this civil war going on within the republican party. >> you know, it's interesting, because, doug, we saw some people that seemed to, before christine o'donnell made her big win, they were questioning whether she could really be an effective candidate. we heard the delaware republican party saying, look, she wouldn't even be good as a dog catcher. now they're having to backtrack

against that and say, yes, we're putting our money where our mouth is. yes, the senate campaign is going to give her the same amount of money we're giving the republicans in every case. what does this do for the republicans moving forward? >> well, it means we move forward and we try and win. i can tell you we had a donor give us $10,000 yesterday to the republican national committee because they were excited about christine o'donnell's win. i'm reminded of an old frank sinatra song called "i heard that song before" and we should step back and ask about where we heard this song before about tea parties damaging republicans. we heard it in a state like kentucky. >> wait a minute, you heard it from karl rove, who said now we'll lose delaware. he calls christine o'donnell nutty. i mean he's walking it back today. he's saying that he is endorsing her and he's going to endorse the republicans in each and every instance. but i mean it wasn't like it was just these far left liberals who were saying the tea party hurts republicans. republicans were saying pit >> well i think some republicans are looking at individual races

and making calls which is what you do in primaries. but in time after time, i've sat with brad talking to you. they said marco rubio couldn't win. they said sharon engel can't win. he's up in the poll. said ken puck gont win. >> the latest poll in nevada here was this person who wasn't supposed to have any credibility and if she was going to win the republican primary, by george harry reid was going to be a shoo-in. there you have it. it's a statistical tie. >> wait a minute, contessa, nobody has said harry reid would be a shoo-in. >> they said it before she won. >> the fact of the matter is most people thought harry reid had a very hard, uphill battle and he's in the fight now. he has a very, very good chance of winning. you know, no one gave us a shot in delaware. and look at what people are saying about that race today. remember, ten candidates, i mean, look, i don't know why john corn ien is still a

chairman. he lost eight races where nrc had picked an established candidate, lost to a far right wing candidate. and they know that this is a disaster. they're having to invest in places where they thought they were going to win. that has to benefit us. >> i'm interested in what happens in the next 47 days here to see whether republicans, i mean here's the thing, normally you have the extreme view when you're heading into the primary, and then everything sort of moderates to get those in the middle of the road voters. it will be interesting to see what happens with republicans, whether that's the way of moving forward. i've got to leave it there, guys. we've got all this breaking news today. thank you both. >> thanks, contessa. >> the situation we're following out of baltimore where police say that the shooter is still in custody. let me move on. there's harry reid, the senate floor, i'm sorry. they have just now, they're voting on the small business bill. now here's an interesting turn events. so you have the republicans

arguing against letting the tax cuts expire for the wealthiest americans. they say whoops wealthy americans are the ones who create jobs. you're going to hurt small businesses if you do that. yet most of the republicans are taking a stand against the small business bill. how does that line up? okay we're going to take a quick break. we're following the votes. [ woman ] nine iron, it's almost tee-time...

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everybody's concerned about jobs and the economy heading into the election. capitol hill, the senate just passed a bill aimed at small businesses, finally. it's been a long time coming. the vote 61-38. the republicans not for this $30 billion small business bill. let's go to nbc's ken strickland who is there. tell me which republicans joined the democrats to get this thing passed. >> it was the senate georges. george voinovich and george lemieux of florida. they joined with democrats on tuesday to break the filibuster and they joined with them again

today in support of this bill. democrats feel that this bill h help small businesses and provide a boost to the economy. what's in this bill? basically it's verse tax provisions, billions of dollars worth of tax provisions that republicans and democrats agree with. but the controversial part of the bill is a $30 billion loan fund. this loan fund would be used for small community banks and they would, in turn, take that money and give it to small businesses who could use that money to make more hires or do more renovations. republicans say that part of the bill amounts to another bailout similar to the bank bailout in 2008. this is a small business bailout. they feel a lot of those funds will be used on risky borrowers. most republicans except for two voted against. obviously you can tell i had to take out my ifb, so i can't hear you. i'll send it back to you. >> you know what that is? go ahead, put it back in now, ken. that's the way correspondents

get away without having to answer any of my wacko questions. >> i'm ready. >> that's it for this four for me. i'm contessa brewer. thank you for watching. i'm going to see you tomorrow at noon. former governors mike huckabee and mitt romney outline the voters in washington, d.c. up next savannah guthrie is in for andrea mitchell today and she'll be talking with senator john kerry and she'll have andrea's exclusive interview with iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad. ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you ♪ i could hang around till the leaves are brown and the summer's gone ♪ [ announcer ] when you're not worried about potential dangers, the world can be a far less threatening place. take the scary out of life with travelers insurance... and see the world in a different light.

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an andrea mitchell reports exclusive. andrea sits down one-on-one with iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad in tehran. the standoff over iran's nuclear program. the controversy over that proposed islamic center in new york. and the fate of two american hikers still imprisoned in iran. plus the republicans' family feud. just how much of a divide is